Let’s get down to brass tacks. We know – when it comes to booking your contractor accommodation – two of the biggest issues on your mind are time and money. You want to save on both, right? And we don’t blame you. It’s why we’ve taken the time here to jot down five handy hints that will help make organising your accommodation much quicker and more cost-effective.
We kick off with something that might seem counter-intuitive:
- AVOID COMPARISON SITES: Hmmm. Aren’t these sites meant to help you save money? In theory: yes. In practice: they often don’t. Go compare, sure. But you’ll likely be comparing higher prices to what you’d get if you booked direct with the hotel. You see, the way the industry works is comparison sites charge commission on the prices they are offered by the hotel. Or, sometimes, they’ll put the most expensive rooms on the website in the hope of flogging them over the cheaper suites. It might seem old fashioned, but booking direct is often the best option. We always book our clients in direct.
- SEARCH FOR THE BEST DEAL: Just because you should swerve the comparison sites, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t compare hotels. Figure out what you want from your hotel or accommodation and focus on those factors when comparing one place against another. Just because one place is five stars and another is four, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily better for your needs. Second to looking after our clients during a stay, this is perhaps one of the main things our travel assistants spend their time doing…sourcing you the best deal available.
- DON’T FALL FOR INTERNET TRICKS: It’s so clever you almost have to respect the inventiveness, but we’re less impressed when it comes to making your accommodation more expensive. The sad truth is modern technology allows websites to track your visits and adjust prices and availability. It means rooms get more expensive and seemingly more booked the longer you look. A good tip is to set your browser to ‘incognito,’ so it’s harder to track you. Or book through us and avoid the problem altogether.
- DISCOUNTED RATES: Due to the sheer amount hotels and accommodation we book, we’re in the lucky position of being able to often secure discount rates, which we’re often able to pass on directly to our clients. If you’re booking for yourself or your company, you should always ask if a repeat booking might afford you a discount rate. If you can book a few trips in advance and take advantage of a discount rate, it might also help you save time in the future too.
- KEEP AN EYE ON VAT: Eeek. The dreaded VAT. The concept that keeps most account departments up at night cuddling their teddy bears in a cold sweat. It can be annoying, but it can also help you save a pretty penny too, especially when it comes to claiming VAT on your business accommodation. You see, a lot of hotel providers are actually set up abroad. If booking accommodation through them online, it might mean you’re not able to claim VAT. This is something to be aware of when booking for yourself. But it’s a problem we can help you jump right over if you book your accommodation through us. Just give us a call and we can tell you more.
If fact, above and beyond these five tips, we’d say the most effective way of saving time and money when it comes to booking your business accommodation is to let us do it for you. Just give us a call today on 0330 090 41 42 and we can have a chat about your needs and how we can help you.
We’ll save you time and we’ll find you the right price for your budget. But as you’ll discover for yourself – that’s not even why our clients keep coming back to us. To find out the real reason: get in touch today.